Three Biographies of Giants
Tags
Summary
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Readers interested in the lives and inner worlds of Beethoven, Michelangelo and Tolstoy
- Readers who hope to draw strength from biography to face hardship and prefer slow, attentive reading
- Lovers of literature who admire Fu Lei's translations and want to experience a master translator's style
- Students and self-learners in need of an introductory work on Western art and intellectual history
Not a good fit for
- Readers expecting light, story-driven biography or fast-paced reading
- Readers who want only technical analysis of artworks and care nothing for the subjects' inner lives
- People with fragmented reading time who find it hard to finish a long biography in one stretch
Reading tips
- Read in the order Beethoven, Michelangelo, Tolstoy; after each biography, jot down a few impressions before moving on.
- When you meet a dense sentence by Fu Lei, slow down and read it aloud to feel the relation between the rhythm of the translation and the emotion of the original.
- Mindful of the three men's different arts, listen to a Beethoven piece or look at a Michelangelo painting as you read.
- Do not force yourself to finish in one go; spread the three biographies over three periods, leaving room to digest each.
Contents
- 版权信息
- 贝多芬传
- 版权信息
- 译者序
- 原序
- 贝多芬传
- 贝多芬遗嘱
- 书信
- 贝多芬致阿芒达牧师书
- 贝多芬致弗朗兹·葛哈特·韦该勒书
- 致前人书
- 韦该勒与爱莱奥诺·洪·勃鲁宁致贝多芬书
- 贝多芬致韦该勒书
- 致前人书
- 贝多芬致莫希尔斯书
- 思想
- 关于音乐
- 关于批评
- 参考书目
- 附录 贝多芬的作品及其精神
- 一 贝多芬与力
- 二 贝多芬的音乐建树
- 三 重要作品浅释
- 弥盖朗棋罗传
- 版权信息
- 译者弁言
- 原序
- 弥盖朗琪罗
- 上编 战斗
- 一 力
- 二 力底崩裂
- 三 绝望
- 下编 舍弃
- 一 爱情
- 二 信心
- 三 孤独
- 尾声
- 死
- 这便是神圣的痛苦的生涯
- 托尔斯泰传
- 版权信息
- 罗曼罗兰致译者书（代序）
- 原序
- 一
- 二
- 三
- 四
- 五
- 六
- 七
- 八
- 九
- 十
- 十一
- 十二
- 十三
- 十四
- 十五
- 十六
- 十七
- 十八
- 托尔斯泰遗著论
- 亚洲对托尔斯泰底回响
- 托尔斯泰逝世前二月致甘地书
- 托尔斯泰著作年表
FAQ
Is this a complete biography of the three giants or a selection?
Is Fu Lei's translation hard to read?
Can I understand it without a background in art history?
Comments
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About the author
Romain Rolland (1866–1944) was a French novelist, playwright, critic, musicologist and social activist, born in Clamecy and died in Vézelay. He is best known for novels such as Jean-Christophe, which often center on personal growth and spiritual striving and blend musical experience with social observation, combining idealism with realism; his biographical works, including Lives of the Eminent, also reflect his attention to character and the inner life. In 1915 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for “the lofty idealism of his literary production and the sympathetic and loving veracity with which he has depicted different types of humanity.” The collection includes 115 of his works, spanning foreign literature, world classics, classic works and general biography.
Fu Lei (1908–1966), styled Nu'an and known by the sobriquet Nu'an, was a native of Nanhui, Shanghai, and a renowned Chinese translator, writer and literary critic. He studied at the University of Paris in his early years and devoted his life to translating more than thirty works by French masters such as Balzac, Romain Rolland and Voltaire. Adhering to the principle of valuing spiritual resemblance over formal likeness, his translations are celebrated for their vividness and concision and are still widely read today. His renditions of Jean-Christophe, Le Père Goriot and Eugénie Grandet have long served as key pathways for Chinese readers into French literature. Beyond translation, he wrote Letters from Fu Lei and Twenty Lectures on World Masterpieces of Art, works marked by sincerity and learning. The library holds 295 of his works, spanning essays, foreign literature and classic translations, testifying to the enduring influence of his writing and translation in the Chinese-speaking world.
